In the retail industry, the largest expenditures are typically the cost of the goods sold followed closely by the cost of labor expended. With particular regard to the retail grocery or supermarket industry, the impetus to reduce labor costs has focused on reducing or eliminating the amount of time required to handle and/or process the items or goods to be purchased by a customer. To this end, there have been a number of self-service checkout terminal concepts developed which attempt to substantially eliminate the need for a checkout clerk.
A self-service checkout terminal is a system which is operated by a customer without the aid of a checkout clerk. In such a system, the customer scans individual items for purchase across a scanner and then places the scanned item into a grocery bag, if desired. The customer then pays for his or her purchase either at the self-service checkout terminal if so equipped, or at a central payment area which is staffed by a store employee. Thus, a self-service checkout terminal permits a customer to select, itemize, and in some cases pay for his or her items for purchase without the assistance of the retailer's personnel.
A customer typically has little or no training in the operation of a self-service checkout terminal prior to his or her initial use of the checkout terminal. One concern that retailers have when evaluating a self-service checkout terminal is the level of supervision provided to inexperienced customers. Moreover, it is also known that some customers may have improper intentions when using a self-service checkout terminal. In traditional checkout systems, the clerk employed by the retailer to operate the checkout terminal provides a level of security against theft or other improprieties. However, in the case of a self-service checkout terminal, the terminal itself must provide the necessary security. Hence, self-service checkout terminals which have heretofore been designed typically include a security system which provides a level of security against theft or other improprieties.
One such security system which has been utilized in previously designed self-service checkout systems includes an item sensor such as a weight scale which is positioned to detect the insertion or removal of items into and out of a container such as a grocery bag. Heretofore, there have been two distinct approaches to the operation of such a security system (i.e. a security system including a weight scale). A first approach requires strict adhesion to the notion that every scanned or otherwise entered item must be placed in a grocery bag so as to be detected by the weight scale. Hence, when a customer scans or otherwise enters an item, the terminal is configured such that the customer is not allowed to perform any additional checkout functions (e.g. scan additional items) until the previously scanned item has been placed in a grocery bag. Such an approach has a number of drawbacks associated therewith. For example, such an approach may be inconvenient to the customer since the customer may not desire to place every item in a grocery bag. For instance, if the customer scans a pack of gum, the customer may desire to place the gum in his or her pocket instead of a grocery bag. Moreover, if the customer scans a relatively bulky item such as a fifty-pound bag of dog food, the customer may not desire (or be able to) place such an item in a grocery bag. Hence, in regard to such an approach, security from improprieties such as theft is enhanced, but ease of terminal operation by the customer may be reduced.
A second approach to operation of a security system having such a weight scale allows more flexibility in regard to item handling subsequent to entry thereof. For example, security systems have heretofore been designed which allow a customer to selectively place an entered item in a location other than a grocery bag (e.g. the customer's pocket). In particular regard to operation of such a security system, if the customer scans an item for purchase (e.g. a pack of gum), but does not place the gum in a grocery bag, a message is generated which reminds the customer to place the item in a bag. Thereafter, even if the customer still does not place the item (e.g. the gum) in a grocery bag, the customer's checkout transaction is allowed to continue. Hence, in regard to such an approach, ease of terminal operation may be enhanced, but security from improprieties such as theft may potentially be reduced.
What is needed therefore is a security system for use in a self-service checkout terminal which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. What is particularly needed is a method and apparatus for operating a security system of a self-service checkout terminal which provides for enhanced security from improprieties such as theft along with enhanced ease of terminal operation by the customer.